Mali struggling to meet United Nations literacy goals

In 2000 the Malian government signed on to the United Nations Education for All goals to help 50% more adults become literate by 2015, but eight years on still only 30% of Malian adults can read or write, and the government is yet to outline its strategy to address the problem.

“We have very low literacy rates in all languages here in Mali, and we know we need to make much faster progress,” Oumar Cissé, communications adviser at the Mali Ministry for Women and Children, told IRIN news.

Mali is just one of six countries (alongside Niger, Chad, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Afghanistan) in which under 40% of adults are literate, according to UNICEF. Read more about the daunting challenges facing Mali at IRIN News online.